Internet Protocol (IP) multicast is a bandwidth-conserving technology that delivers IP traffic conveying a single stream of information from a transmitter to multiple receivers which form a multicast group. IP multicast may be used for numerous applications such as videoconferencing, distance learning, software distribution, and the like. IP multicast packets are replicated in the network by multicast routers supporting various multicast protocols for managing multicast group membership, replicating IP multicast packets, and performing like functions associated with IP multicast. Dynamic establishment of multicast groups is currently performed using the Session Announcement Protocol (SAP), including the associated Session Directory Tool (SDR), as defined in RFC2974, which uses a distributed session directory and session announcements to dynamically establish a multicast group.